<strong>Shelburne marketing effort to focus on ferry traffic</strong>

Volunteer models Ed Cayer and Willa MaGee pose at Bistro 138 for a magazine shot for the summer campaign.

Lisa Buchanan photo

By Amy Woolvett

People will begin reading the slogan, Shelburne- Where you really want to be, in glossy tourist magazines in hopes of capturing this year’s tourists to the Shelburne area.

As the new ferry sets to sail this year, local governments are asking how to get people off the ferry and into Shelburne County.

Both the Municipality of Shelburne and the Town of Shelburne have gone with a new ad campaign to brand the Town of Shelburne in attempts to bring visitors to the area.

Timothy Gillespie will be heading the project.

“We want to see large ads with high quality and a branded message as opposed to what we have been seeing…tiny ads on a page. What we’ve done in the past has not proven to be effective,” said Gillespie.

He said the goal is to not try to sell to potential tourists individual events and businesses but to design an advertisement that states a clear and simple message letting them know what to expect while in the county.

And Gillespie stresses the importance of focusing the advertisements on one area, the Town of Shelburne.

“You can’t put borders on tourism,” explained CAO for the municipality at a recent council meeting where they adopted the plan. “If it positively affects Shelburne it will positively affect the surrounding areas.”

Gillespie agreed.

“As far as anybody visiting is concerned its all Shelburne,” he said.

The ad currently being developed will go in the Nova Star magazine, the ferry travelling from Maine to Yarmouth.

As well Gillespie wants to draw the interest of tourists visiting the Halifax area and will be placing the ads in the Halifax Visitors Guide, one of the main tourist publications for Nova Scotia.

Both history and dining will be the image portrayed in the ads.

“The historic waterfront was voted the number one attraction for coming to the area in 2010,” said Gillespie.

QR codes will lead smart phone readers to www.shelburnenovascotia.com where they can glean further information and highlights about the area.

Gillespie said the results of the advertising campaign would produce results that can be tracked.